In recent international cricket, few batsmen have struck as much fear into the hearts of bowlers as the Indian opening bat Viru. In all forms of the game, he destroys all types of bowling with a dismissive flair that is virtually unmatched. Even decent line and length is of no consequence to the flamboyant but technically strong Sehwag, who will just as happily walk across his stumps to smash a decent length delivery on the stumps over mid-wicket for six, as he will hit the next delivery inside out over extra-cover.

He has an extraordinary eye, and wields a huge piece of willow. Sehwag holds multiple records including the highest score made by an Indian in Test cricket (319), which was also the fastest triple century in the history of international cricket (reached 300 off only 278 balls) as well as the fastest 250 by any batsman (in 207 balls against Sri Lanka on 3 December, 2009 at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai). Sehwag also holds the distinction of being one of three batsmen in the world to have ever surpassed 300 twice in Test cricket, and the only one to score two triple centuries and take a five-wicket innings haul. In March 2009, Sehwag smashed the fastest century ever scored by an Indian in ODI cricket, from 60 balls.

He's also a more-than-useful off-break bowler, although he normally comes on for short spells as a partnership-breaker.

In his ODI career thus far, his 228 matches have produced 7380 mainly scintillating runs, at a remarkably low average of 34.64. It is, however, his strike rate of 103.27 that alludes to his talents as a one-day opener. In contrast, his Test average is much higher, with his 80 Tests yielding close on 9000 runs, at an average of 53.9 – again, his strike rate in Test cricket is 81.17 – a remarkable number considering this is the longer format!

* Fastest 250 in Test cricket in terms of balls faced (207).

* Fastest 300 in Test cricket in terms of balls faced (278).

* Most Test runs in a single day by an Indian. Sehwag made 257 in a day against SA in Chennai. He surpassed this in making 284 in a day against Sri Lanka. The latter was the second consecutive innings in which India scored more than 400 runs in a single day in Tests. Sehwag also made a century at faster than a run a ball on the previous equation.

* Only Indian batsman to have scored two triple centuries in Test cricket. He is the third batsman in the history of Test cricket to score two triple centuries, alongside Sir Donald Bradman and Brian Lara.

* Fastest century in ODI cricket by an Indian - 100 runs off 60 balls against New Zealand in 2009.

* Second fastest ODI 50 by an Indian.[101] - a record, he shares with Rahul Dravid, Kapil Dev and Yuvraj Singh - when he took 22 balls against Kenya in 2001[102]

* Six double centuries - the first three of which came against Pakistan. Greg Chappell and Thilan Samarweera are the other players to have scored multiple double centuries against Pakistan (2). Sehwag is the only Indian to have made six Test double centuries.

* Highest score by an Indian batsman in Test cricket. He first achieved this when he scored 309 against Pakistan in Multan in 2004, and bettered his previous record in March 2008 at Chennai against South Africa by scoring 319.

* Fastest triple century: His second triple century scored at Chennai on 27–28 March 2008 against South Africa was the fastest in terms of balls faced by any batsman (off 278 balls).

* Consecutive 150+ scores in Test cricket: He holds the record for consecutive test hundreds converted to scores of 150+, at 11.

* He is one of the only five players to have scored more test hundreds than test fifties(15c/14f), along with Don Bradman(29c/13f), Mohammad Azharuddin (22c/21f), Matthew Hayden (30c/27f) and Kevin Pietersen(13c/11f) as on August 7, 2008.

* Two consecutive double century partnerships in a Test innings. He achieved this record, for the first two wickets in Chennai on 27–28 March 2008 (with Wasim Jaffer and Rahul Dravid respectively). This was the first time in Test history that the first two wickets in an innings have resulted in double-century stands. He equaled this in the innings against Sri Lanka in Mumbai, combining with Murali Vijay and Dravid for the first and second wickets.

* He is the first person in the history of test cricket to hit two triple centuries and take five wickets in a Test innings.

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